Shigeo Kanada

A Model Experiment of a Free Standing Riser in the Deep-Sea Basin

An experiment using a 1/70 reduced scale model of a Free Standing Riser (FSR) was carried in the Deep-Sea Basin of the National Maritime Research Institute in Japan. For instance, the model’s vertical pipe was about 32m long and the jumper was about 8m long. The FSR model had several measurement stations attached along the vertical pipe, subsurface buoy and jumper; and the motion of each station was measured in 3D by the Visual Measurement System. During the experiment, the effects of the jumper’s top end oscillation on the whole system were investigated. In this case, the top oscillation had propagated along the jumper; however the top oscillation had a reduced effect on the dynamics of the subsurface buoy and vertical pipe. In another experimental case, a current was generated in order to investigate the Vortex Induced Motion (VIM) on the FSR’s Subsurface Buoy. The VIM experiment was repeated for two different buoy models (a smooth cylinder and a cylinder with 3-start heli-coidally strakes) and the results were compared. In this article, some of the experimental results are presented and discussed.Copyright

Concept of Seafloor Mineral Processing for Development of Seafloor Massive Sulfides

Seafloor Massive Sulfides (SMS), which were formed by deposition of precipitates from hydrothermal fluids vented from seafloor, is one of unconventional mineral resources beneath deep seafloors in the world. The authors have proposed the concept of seafloor mineral processing for development of SMS, where useful minerals included in SMS ores are separated on seafloor to be lifted while the remaining gangue is disposed on seafloor in appropriate ways. To apply column flotation, one of conventional methods in mineral processing, to seafloor mineral processing, the authors carried out simulating experiments of column flotation on deep seafloor using ores including copper, iron, lead and zinc as metallic elements. Prior to the experiments at high pressures, preparatory experiments at the atmospheric pressure were carried out to find out the optimum condition of the properties of pulp, a mixture of feed ore, water and chemical reagents. In flotation experiments at high pressures, formation and overflow of froth layer by bubbling were observed at 1MPa in both of pulps with pure water and artificial seawater. The analytical data showed that the concentration of metallic elements such as copper and zinc in the concentrates recovered from the experiments was higher than that in the feed ores while the concentration of silicon and calcium, which are assigned to gangue, in the concentrates was lower than that in the feed ores. These results suggest that column flotation can be applied to operation on seafloor.Copyright

An Experimental Study of the Effects That Change the Vibration Mode of Riser VIV

In recent years, a number of deepwater development projects are running worldwide. As the water depth increases, safety and reliability of the riser is a critical issue. One of the most important matters is vortex-induced vibration (VIV). In the deepwater area with strong current, for example in the Gulf of Mexico, a riser pipe’s VIV motion changes continually due to the change of hydrodynamic conditions. In order to assess safety and reliability of deepwater riser, investigation of the dynamic variation of riser VIV is important. This paper deals with top tensioned riser. To clarify the phenomena of dynamic variation of the riser’s vibration mode, a large-scale experiment using a 28.5 m long model was carried out at the Deep Sea Basin of the National Maritime Research Institute in Japan. In this experiment, the model’s bottom end was fixed, while top end was connected to a tensioner. The current generating system was installed to make flow from water surface to about 5m in depth. A measurement of riser VIV motion in current condition was carried out by changing the model’s top tension from self-weight balanced condition to four times of the self-weight. Vibration mode widely changed from high mode of up to 15th to low mode of 5th. In order to investigate an influence of the change of vibration mode on the riser VIV motion, a series of experiments were conducted with the periodic variation of top tension. It was found that the traveling wave occurred from top to bottom end in a moment of vibration mode changed.Copyright

Experimental Studies of Pressure Loss in Inclined Pipe in Slurry Transport for Subsea Mining

For subsea mining, the estimation of pressure loss in the pipe of lifting system and the flexible pipe to connect the mining tool and the lifting system is important to design the mining system. The configuration of flexible pipe is expected to have an inclined part.In the present paper, the authors carried out the experiment to measure the pressure loss in inclined pipes using alumina beads to investigate the effect of inclination angle of pipe on the pressure loss. Furthermore, a mathematical model to estimate the pressure loss in inclined pipes was proposed and validated through the experiments. As the result of the validation, it was confirmed that the proposed model could be applied to the pressure loss estimation in inclined pipes.Copyright

Simulation of a Free Standing Riser Model and Validation With Experimental Results

In this article, we present the numerical analysis of a Free Standing Riser. The numerical simulation was carried out using a commercial riser analysis software suit. The numerical model’s dimensions were the same of a 1/70 reduced scale model deployed in a previous experiment. The numerical results were compared with experimental results presented in a previous article [1]. Discussion about the model and limitations of the numerical analysis is included.Copyright

Study on Grinding Technology for Seafloor Mineral Processing

Seafloor Massive Sulfides (SMSs), which are formed by precipitates from hydrothermal fluids vented from seafloor, have been expected as one of mineral resources to be developed. The authors have proposed the concept of seafloor mineral processing for SMS mining, where valuable minerals contained in SMS ores are separated on seafloor. To apply a ball mill to the grinding unit for seafloor mineral processing, grinding experiments were carried out using a small-scale ball mill applicable to high-pressure condition. In the experiments, wet grinding and water-filled grinding of size-classified silica sands were carried out at three rotation rates to compare the grinding performance in both cases. In both cases, the silica sands were finely ground. The measurement of particle size of samples from the experiments showed that water-filled grinding had comparable grinding performance to wet grinding while the suitable rotation rate for water-filled grinding shifted to higher than that for wet grinding. This result suggests the possibility of water-filled grinding for seafloor mineral processing. If water-filled grinding can be employed for the grinding unit, the structure of the grinding unit would be simplified in comparison with wet grinding that leads to the saving of grinding costs.Copyright

Study on Seafloor Mineral Processing for Mining of Seafloor Massive Sulfides

Seafloor Massive Sulfides (SMSs), which were formed by deposition of precipitates from hydrothermal fluids vented from seafloor, has been expected as one of unconventional mineral resources on deep seafloors in the oceans. The authors have proposed the concept of seafloor mineral processing for SMS mining, where valuable minerals contained in SMS ores are separated on seafloor while gangue minerals are disposed on seafloor in appropriate ways. To confirm the applicability of column flotation, which is one of conventional mineral processing methods, to seafloor mineral processing, the authors carried out experiments simulating column flotation under the pressure conditions corresponding to the water depths down to 1000m in maximum using ore samples containing copper, iron, zinc and lead. In the experiments, formation of fine bubbles suitable to flotation and overflow of froth layer were observed at high pressures. The contents of copper and zinc in the concentrates recovered in the experiments at 1MPa were higher than those in the feed ores while the contents of silicon and calcium in the concentrates were lower than those in the feed ores. These results suggest that column flotation would be applicable to seafloor mineral processing.Copyright

An experimental analysis of the interaction between hanged pipe and internal flow

The pipes are playing an important role in the offshore environment. Risers and pipelines are widely deployed by the petroleum industry for the well drilling and hydrocarbons production. Whereas during drilling, a mixture of drilling mud and solids in suspension (rock cuttings) flows through the drilling riser; during the production, mono or multiphase flow (comprising oil, water and gas) takes place within the production system. However up till now, most of investigations on offshore pipelines and risers have neglected the effects of the internal flow and have focused mainly on the interaction among pipe’s structure, hydro-dynamic forces and offshore platform’s motion. This paper deals with the interaction between the pipe structure and its internal flow. An experimental analysis was carried out, in the Deep Sea Basin of the National Maritime Research Institute (Japan), using a model of 10 m length. In this experiment, a mono-phase fluid of liquid and another bi-phase fluid of liquid and solids in suspension are used as the internal flow fluid and a parametric analysis using the internal flow rate and pipe’s oscillating frequency was carried out. Discussion about the experimental results is also included.© 2010 ASME

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON DEFORMATION AND FRACTURE OF ICE SHEET BY PROPAGATING WATER WAVE

A study of alternatives including a shoreline evolution numerical modelization has been carried out in order to both diagnose the erosion problem at the beaches located between Cambrils Harbour and Pixerota delta (Tarragona, Spain) and select nourishment alternatives.